Analyst: StarCraft II Will Shift 4m Units In Q1

30 Jul 2009 by Paul Younger

A market analyst expects StarCraft II to sell four million units in its opening quarter, with Modern Warfare 2 covering costs of a possible StarCraft II release delay.

IncGamers reported Janco Partners analyst, Mike Hickey, as saying a StarCraft II delay would hurt Activision Blizzard, and speculation on this delay is attributed to a 14% drop in Activision Blizzard shares during last month.

The problem isn't likely to be a big one, as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is expected to be the "biggest-selling title of 2009" by analysts. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said Modern Warfare 2 "has the potential to sell an extra four million copies this year due to the big advertising push." These sales could net out with his prediction of four million sold units in the opening quarter of StarCraft II according to a report on Gamasutra.

Other analysts agree Activision is likely to reach their goals, but without StarCraft II, the company is unlikely to surpass them.Pachter also commented on the StarCraft II beta start saying "the issue is balance, and until there is a large scale beta, Blizzard won't be able to test every single weapon, defence, etcetera, in order to ensure that the three races are perfectly balanced."

In our hands-on experience with StarCraft, the game felt like a finished product. Balancing and last minute polishing remains. The beta period might take less time than most expect.

However, "the Blizzard guys are perfectionists, and if they want to take six months, nobody at Activision is going to challenge them," said Pachter.

"So the bottom line is that StarCraft II will launch when Blizzard says so."

A market analyst expects StarCraft II to sell four million units in its opening quarter, with Modern Warfare 2 covering costs of a possible StarCraft II release delay.

IncGamers reported Janco Partners analyst, Mike Hickey, as saying a StarCraft II delay would hurt Activision Blizzard, and speculation on this delay is attributed to a 14% drop in Activision Blizzard shares during last month.

The problem isn’t likely to be a big one, as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is expected to be the “biggest-selling title of 2009″ by analysts. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said Modern Warfare 2 “has the potential to sell an extra four million copies this year due to the big advertising push.” These sales could net out with his prediction of four million sold units in the opening quarter of StarCraft II according to a report on Gamasutra.

Other analysts agree Activision is likely to reach their goals, but without StarCraft II, the company is unlikely to surpass them.Pachter also commented on the StarCraft II beta start saying “the issue is balance, and until there is a large scale beta, Blizzard won’t be able to test every single weapon, defence, etcetera, in order to ensure that the three races are perfectly balanced.”

In our hands-on experience with StarCraft, the game felt like a finished product. Balancing and last minute polishing remains. The beta period might take less time than most expect.

However, “the Blizzard guys are perfectionists, and if they want to take six months, nobody at Activision is going to challenge them,” said Pachter.

“So the bottom line is that StarCraft II will launch when Blizzard says so.”

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